your probabaly not the only one..lots of people had this problem before the 2.2k power tweak....

did you end up trying a pot from the 9v to the pin8 to see if you could lower the voltage to stop any clicking...im just thinking that the 'tolerance' on your ic may be slighlty different...
'tolerance on even the 2.2k may be an issue too...just a thought.
if it was going to tick it would definately do it without the depth pot...and just a wire from the ldr to ground...this is how i have it at the moment and its fine..
funny i bought some ldr's from a guy in holland recently off ebay...and they are fine too...
as an experiment today i wired 3 hi bright 5m leds off the 3 pin to ground..and had the normal hi bright red for ldr..and it still doesnt tick..i though it would.....but no!.
the only time it ticks is when i connect pin8 directly to 9v...so i would tinker with that 2.2k area with a pot if anything...
tell you what i'll do...
i'll post all my pin voltages ok.....and we can see whats happening from there ok...see if there are any major differences...i'm using a 9v psu daisy chain type by the way..not a battery..
i turned the
speed rate full so i could get a steady measurement ok...ts555cn.
pin 1 = 0.00
pin2 =1.13v
pin3 =1.5v
pin4 =1.43v
pin5 =1.43v (4-5 connected)
pin6 =1.13v
pin7 =1.13v
pin8 =2.19v
my psu puts out 9.11volts.
my 2.2k is actually 2.17k...(due to tolerance etc)
my 47uf is a 16v model